# Princess Diana car crash paranoia letter - can it be anything other than bullshit? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 21, 2003, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682 "2003-10-21T13:10:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682/1 "2003-10-21T13:10:25Z")
[http://www.news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=1161332003](http://www.news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=1161332003) Mybe I’m just too cycnical here, but: Ten months before her death, Princess Diana supposedly wrote a letter detailing her fears that there was a plot to kill her in a car crash; the letter managed to remain completely unnoticed or unmentioned by everybody (even through all the talk of inquiries and consopiracies) right up until now. It has suddenly been revealed by her butler, Paul Burrell, who _just happens_ to be launching his book in a short while. The whole thing _reeks_ of bullshit. How likely is it that this letter is genuine? ---
**Author:** ![Swampwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Swampwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swampwolf)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682/2 "2003-10-21T13:13:54Z")
…as likely as I am to become the next Pope? …as likely as Fox News is to start acting like a real news source? …as likely as Fred Phelps is to come out of the closet? …as likely as Robert Jordan’s next book is to be worth a damn? need I continue? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682/3 "2003-10-21T13:22:01Z")
If you’re interested, we’ve been discussing this over at the [NADS](http://pub75.ezboard.com/fnadsfrm7.showMessage?topicID=21.topic) board. Personally I think she was mad as a teacake, and it was a coincidence. To parahrase myself: if someone was plotting against her, 1. how did she know the method planned for her death, and 2. why wasn’t she wearing her seat belt? ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682/4 "2003-10-21T13:25:03Z")
I think it’s probably genuine as Burrel has no record of outright fabrication, as best I know. I also think it’s highly likely Diana was paranoid (amongst much else) and that Burrell has another book coming out, possibly even before Christmas - she could well have written dozens of such letters; next Christmas expect the same re green Aliens. Overall - and especially given the modern phenomenon of the public desire/capacity to transfer their own emotional ‘needs’/shortcomings onto celebrity - she proved to be the perfect person on whom parasites could build a posthumous career. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682/5 "2003-10-21T13:42:51Z")
While it may be genuine, I have a very hard time crediting it as convincing evidence that there was a plot against her. I’m prepared to listen to all manner of conspiracy theories, on a number of subjects, as long as there’s an underlying reason for the conspiracy. So far I’ve yet to hear a good convincing argument that any particular group would be better off with Diana dead. That aside, I also have great difficulty believing that such a complicated assasination method would have been used. There’s an almost impressive number of ways that such a scheme could have gone wrong. And, as jjimm mentioned, if you really were convinced that someone was trying to sabotage your car, wouldn’t you become very habitual about fastening your seat belt? All in all, it’s not really convincing. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682/6 "2003-10-21T13:43:02Z")
The whole thing is ridiculous. Why anyone gives a flying burrito fuck about that woman (or any royalty for that matter) is, and always has been, beyond me. The snippet that I heard on the radio said that she suspected that she was going to die in a car crash due to _someone tampering with the brakes._ She died because of an impaired driver driving too fast and losing control of the car. She didn’t “predict” jack shit. Haj ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682/7 "2003-10-21T13:51:53Z")
I agree it’s not evidence of anything, except her paranoia. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Doris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Sir\_Doris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Doris)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682/8 "2003-10-21T14:12:41Z")
On the Today program this morning, it was mentioned she’d at some point predicted some sort of helicopter accident - “one day I’ll go up in a helicopter and not come down” to paraphrase. Prince Philip: Diana, meet your new helicopter pilot, Mike Smith (showing my age or what ☹ ) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682/9 "2003-10-21T14:46:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sir Doris \* > \*\*Prince Philip: Diana, meet your new helicopter pilot, Mike Smith > > (showing my age or what ☹ ) \*\* He got the wrong posh blonde bird then, didn’t he! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682/10 "2003-10-21T14:51:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sir Doris \* > **"one day I’ll go up in a helicopter and not come down"** That would be some trick. Isn’t is usually _coming down_ part that is responsible for most aviation deaths? (or rather the _stopping at the bottom after coming down_ bit) ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Doris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Sir\_Doris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Doris)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682/11 "2003-10-21T14:52:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\*He got the wrong posh blonde bird then, didn’t he! \*\* Heh. Anyway, can’t sit around discussing Diana. There’s beer to be necked. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682/12 "2003-10-21T14:53:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gary Kumquat \* > \*\* > > I’m prepared to listen to all manner of conspiracy theories, on a number of subjects, as long as there’s an underlying reason for the conspiracy. So far I’ve yet to hear a good convincing argument that any particular group would be better off with Diana dead. > > \*\* well, ya see, David Icke says its the Masonic Lizards who needed to sacrifice a blonde haired blue eyes woman to the goddess Diana on August 31st! Its so simple really. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682/13 "2003-10-21T17:27:57Z")
UK Dopers. Tell us the story of Mike Smith and the helicopter accident. Googling only produced the [barest of reports](http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/10/newsid_2504000/2504243.stm). I gather it was quite and event way back in 1988. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682/14 "2003-10-21T17:34:16Z")
What **hajario** said. ---
**Author:** ![HumanStromboli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/958977/32.png) [@HumanStromboli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HumanStromboli)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682/15 "2003-10-21T20:00:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sir Doris \* > \*\*On the Today program this morning, it was mentioned she’d at some point predicted some sort of helicopter accident - “one day I’ll go up in a helicopter and not come down” to paraphrase. \*\* Any chance David Ferrie was contracted to fly the get-away helicopter? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682/16 "2003-10-21T21:00:56Z")
It isn’t logical, for starters. She died August 31, 1997. She and Charles were divorced exactly a year earlier, in August 1996. So “10 months before her death” would have been two months AFTER her divorce, when Charles would have been free to marry for two months. So why would she be worried that someone was trying to kill her–two months AFTER her divorce–so Charles would be “free to marry”? He was already free, and indeed, in July 1996, IIRC, as soon as they announced the definite divorce date, there was already rampant speculation, not on _whether_ he would marry Camilla, but on _when_. The whole thing reeks of “book sales”, is what it reeks of. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682/17 "2003-10-21T22:11:37Z")
Is he really free to marry Camilla? Aren’t there problems with the King of England remarrying? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682/18 "2003-10-21T22:32:02Z")
Never stopped Henry VIII, did it? … There’s no technical objection to Charles marrying Camilla, except he has to find himself a priest who doesn’t object to re-marrying divorced people in church - which is not too much of a problem, given the variety of views on offer in the Church of England these days. The only real obstacle is public relations - making the marriage acceptable to the general public. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682/19 "2003-10-21T22:46:54Z")
I’ll believe that it was true clarvoyance on her part if some one can amass together all of her letters and demonstrate to me that the **only** time she ever mentioned something like ‘some one’s trying to kill me’ it was via a car. From what I’ve seen, the woman tended (hmm, how to put this nicely) towards a tad bit of oh, say dramatazation??? and I suspect that there’s a whole lotta other letters where she opines that some one may be trying to poison her, the aforementioned helicopter etc. that said, I also agree w/the poster who spoke of the amazing ability of parasites to still make a buck off her even tho’ she’s been dead for years. I also feel quite sorry for her sons, having to deal w/this sort of shit. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2003, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682/20 "2003-10-21T22:51:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > The whole thing reeks of “book sales”, is what it reeks of. Well since the whole thing stems from the serialisation of Burrells new book. The palace is on the case though so I’d say he’s shitting himself 😉 > [@](#): > > Buckingham Palace has been sent a copy of the book by Princess Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell, so it can consider the legal implications. > > Extracts of the book have been published this week in the Daily Mirror, including alleged letters from Prince Philip to Princess Diana. [BBC NEWS | UK | Palace studying Burrell book](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3210874.stm) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/princess-diana-car-crash-paranoia-letter-can-it-be-anything-other-than-bullshit/208682.md?page=2)